Commercially available polypropylene ether triols are produced by the conventional base catalyzed process which results in increased levels of unsaturation and a corresponding loss in hydroxyl functionality as the molecular weight of the triol increases up to a value of about 6,000. Therefore, high functionality polypropylene ether triols with average molecular weights higher than about 6,000 cannot be made using the base-catalyzed process, or if made, these conventional polypropylene ether triols are not suitable due to low functionality to make segmented thermosetting polyurethane elastomers exhibiting good properties by reaction with organic diisocyanates in admixture with a chain extender.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to overcome the difficulties alluded to hereinabove and to provide a thermoset and segmented polypropylene ether urethane elastomer having desirable property balance and in particular good low temperature properties. These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and working examples.